When people think of Christ, they think passive & weak. That being said, how much can we expect young men to worship Jesus? The feminization of Jesus is not an incentive to explore a relationship with Christ for young men. Most images of Jesus Christ picture him as well-groomed, meek and mild, weak and frail. Christ has become, as John Eldredge puts it, “Mr. Rogers with a beard…telling me to be like him is telling me to go limp and passive. Be nice. Be swell. Be like Mother Teresa.” (Wild at Heart) This portrayal ignores that masculine side of God: “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10). And in the Old Testament, we read: “A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might, for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory” (Proverbs 24:5-6). The Biblical portrait of Jesus touches on the strong and masculine side of God. Jesus was fearless. After he calmed the storm the disciples were terrified of him and at another point, “No one dared ask him any more questions“ (Mark 12:34). Jesus was tough. He regularly offended the Pharisees with his brutal attacks on their self-righteousness and constantly corrected his disciples about their unbelief. In our times, this side of God is left out of the narrative; left out in our images of Christ. As George Bernard Shaw wrote, “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild’ is a snivelling modern invention, with no warrant in the gospels.” I encourage you today to read the Scriptures to get the full breadth of God. The fullness of His image is found in the Bible. There is no doubting that God is compassionate and caring, loving His enemies and doing good to those who hate Him (Parable of the Good Samaratan). However, there is danger is falling into the trap of thinking of Christ as solely a passive, meek & mild wimp. This is far from the truth. The truth is that Jesus is bold and strong. We need to tell this story, especially to our young men who are not in relationship with Jesus Christ.
